Exploring opportunities and limits of energy citizenship in Dutch heat transitions

The role of citizens is increasingly recognized as crucial in the socio-technical transformation of energy systems. This paper examines the concept of energy citizenship (EC), which associates the evolving roles of citizens as active participants in low carbon energy transitions.

Despite the growing body of literature, the concept of EC is often approached through a narrow empirical lens, focusing mostly on certain aspects of energy transitions (e.g., entrepreneurial acts, citizens alone), thereby disregarding others. This limited focus risks framing EC as a status rather than a practice in the making, reinforcing assumptions that EC is reserved for the able and the willing. Such framing restricts our understanding of how and why citizens assume roles in energy transitions, and obscures understanding of the processes, frictions and structural conditions that shape the enactment of energy citizenship.

In this research we examine EC beyond the usual empirical settings by focusing on temporal, multiple actors, centralized and non-entrepreneurial contexts. Through a case study of multiple neighborhood heating initiatives in socio-economically disadvantaged areas in the Netherlands, we explore how different empirical settings can inform a processual understanding of energy citizenship. Our findings demonstrate that energy citizenship can be understood as a dynamic, embedded, cross-actor and fluid phenomenon.

By broadening the analytical understanding of EC, this study offers more comprehensive insights in the limits and opportunities of EC enactments in energy transitions. It also offers actionable insights for policy makers aiming to foster more inclusive and equitable energy systems.